An agents perspective of Cleveland

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/A-less...ml&team=107

 

Last February, I was asked by another agency to help them with their top free agent. It was the biggest free agent client this agency had ever had, so they asked me to guide them and their client through the process to make sure he got the best deal possible. I agreed.

 

When free agency kicked off, the player was being courted by seven teams. My job was to help set an accurate market for the player. I weeded out a few teams right away and helped narrow it to two. Then I got a call from the Browns’ new general manager, George Kokinis , who asked me to bring the player to Cleveland for a physical and signing. I told George the contract numbers that were needed to get the deal done. He didn’t blink and said he could do it.

 

Then, as we agents have to do during the fast-moving free agency period, I told him I would only send the player to Cleveland if they were 99-percent certain they were going to sign him at the numbers I requested. He said, “All I need is for the head coach to get a look at him and for him to pass the physical.”

 

I agreed to send the player with the approval of the other agent, but under one condition: If for some reason they decided not to sign him, he had to be out of the building at 1:30 p.m. the next day and on to the next team. George agreed.

 

I had worked with George on several players over the years while he was in Baltimore, and he had always been straightforward, professional and honest.

 

The next day, I spoke to George at about 10 a.m. that morning to see if they were ready to move. He said he needed a little bit more time. Keep in mind that this player was probably the first high-value free agent the new GM, head coach and current salary cap manager had brought in. So it was their first opportunity to work together

 

At 1:30, I called the Browns but couldn’t get hold of anyone. This is very unusual during free agency. I finally reached the cap manager and salary negotiator, Trip MacCracken, but he had no direction yet from Kokinis or coach Eric Mangini. Two years earlier, I had worked fast and fluently with Trip on bringing top free-agent guard Eric Steinbach to the Browns, so he and I had a strong history of working together.

 

A few more hours passed, but there was still no decision from the Browns’ brass. Finally, at about 4:30, they sent the player to the airport with no contract. At that point, I was very pissed because we had just burned a whole day of free agency. I called George and gave him an earful. He was apologetic, but he couldn’t give me a good reason why they didn’t sign the player. I could sense he was very frustrated.

 

The Browns were obviously never on the same page with this particular free agent and had yet to formulate a way to work together and make decisions. Another agent I spoke to had a similar experience. The signs were there from the beginning that Kokinis had little power and that the team was somewhat rudderless.

 

Luckily, the next day, we ended up signing the player with a good team near the contract numbers we wanted. But the wasted day in Cleveland could have left a lot of money on the table had his new team gone in another direction. Free agency is a lot like musical chairs; you have to move fast to win.

 

Since then, the salary cap manager is now working in another department and a Mangini assistant was recently released. The player in question had a huge game in Week 8 and is happy with his new team. If the agent community gets the sense that quick, definitive decisions can’t be made with a particular team, they will dismiss them quickly as well.

 

Follow me on Twitter: jackbechta

 

[BrownIndian]

The way the article is described, it seems like kokins is not the problem, but someone else is.

[DumAssWhiteGuy]

The way the article is described, it seems like kokins is not the problem, but someone else is.

 

Exactly. If this is the way Mangini plays with FA's The Browns won't sign a single impact guy as long as he is here.

 

This reminds me of something Mangini said right before FA began - "Don't look for us to sign any big name FA's" I guess Kokinis had other plans but was over ruled.

 

This didn't work for Butch, Shanahan or a number of other coaches so why is (and has) Mangini been our defacto GM? Has anyone asked Lerner that?

[ClevelandFanForLife]

This didn't work for Butch, Shanahan or a number of other coaches so why is (and has) Mangini been our defacto GM? Has anyone asked Lerner that?

for some unexplained reason, randy lerner was so infatuated with this guy that he didn't care how much power the gm had; he wanted mangini to run the show. i have no idea why he did this but he did. now he is reaping what he sew. hopefully lerner learns from this (although he didn't learn from the butch situation) and gets a gm with a lot more control: and by "a lot more", i mean some.

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

Exactly. If this is the way Mangini plays with FA's The Browns won't sign a single impact guy as long as he is here.

 

This reminds me of something Mangini said right before FA began - "Don't look for us to sign any big name FA's" I guess Kokinis had other plans but was over ruled.

 

This didn't work for Butch, Shanahan or a number of other coaches so why is (and has) Mangini been our defacto GM? Has anyone asked Lerner that?

 

Bacause its the Belicheck way, the only guy that came from NE that didnt have final say was Romeo. I beleive its the right way to. Its the GM's job to find the talented players and its the coach's job to pick the players he needs from the pool of players the GM lays out. Coach should always have final say, if its from the pool of players the GM picked then there should be no conflict.

[Guest Metcalf_FTW]

So who was the FA?

[peterbell]

So who was the FA?

 

 

thats a s**tload of speculation on what happened..Let me thell you something

if the money is there they will come, thats all they give a s**t about and if

you think anything else is your naive..ITS ALWAYS ABOUT THE DOUGH..ALWAYS

[DumAssWhiteGuy]

thats a s**tload of speculation on what happened..Let me thell you something

if the money is there they will come, thats all they give a s**t about and if

you think anything else is your naive..ITS ALWAYS ABOUT THE DOUGH..ALWAYS

 

In a way you are right - everyone has their price. Teams like the Browns, Raiders, etc will have to over pay to get guys to come to their teams for years to come until (if ever) they are consistent winners again.

[ballpeen]

The way the article is described, it seems like kokins is not the problem, but someone else is.

 

 

 

All it says is the Browns didn't work well inside the building and hadn't smoothed out who was going to pick players..

 

It doesn't seem to indicate anything other than there was dysfunction in the process in which the Browns went in to free agency.

 

The problem could be Lerner in the way it was set up. Could be mangini not wanting to work with Kok...or it could be Kok in that he was bringing in guys nobody else wanted.

 

It' pobably a combination of all of the above.

 

[Alo]

So who was the FA?

Jabari Greer, a cornerback who signed with the Saints after visiting Cleveland. The comment about the player having a great Week 8 cinches it; Greer had a pick six against the Falcons.

 

[Gips]

I can tell ya how the agents feel about dealing with the browns management now after the quinn and cribbs debacle's...millions all up front ,no breaks ,no escalators..thanks you fat pos...we can only hope the next GM can fix the gap between agents and the browns.

 

Im going to assume koko just gave up trying to get things done right with mangini doing whatever he wanted...and lerner got sick of hearing koko whining about it instead of using his GM authority..but the man part of mankok is the one that needed to go at the same time...

 

So lerners logic...we give a coach that koko and the fans hate at least year...but we get rid of the GM before the bye week...and people wonder why we suck...hopefully the new GM will send secret agent fatswell smart out the door soon..

[wongojack]

I understand that one has to move fast on these things, but if someone slowed a decision on the signing they only missed the target by 3 hours! Is 3 hours of this FA's wasted time (during these guys' first offseason together) enough to make every FA decide we are the 3 stooges?

[Earl34]

Jabari Greer, a cornerback who signed with the Saints after visiting Cleveland. The comment about the player having a great Week 8 cinches it; Greer had a pick six against the Falcons.

 

That's a guess but it's certainly possible.

 

I don't think that this article says anything about anyone specifically so being able to say who is at fault is unreasonable. If George Kokinis promised things then it's up to George Kokinis to deliver them. How do you know the hold up is on Mangini's end? Maybe the team doctor was tied up and couldn't sign off on the guy or maybe they wanted the owner's blessing and he's watching soccer.

 

It's an indictment on the organization as a whole but perhaps that's going to be improved with a new GM who'll actually pick up his telephone.

[Earl34]

It may not be that bleak. If the Browns hire a big name GM and establish a long term plan which free agents, and their agents, respect and buy in to; they could start landing top FA's by as soon as next season. The problem is that there is a snowball's chance in hell of Lerner building this respect.

 

He certainly won't get it this year even if he does clean house. He's going to have to overpay but in an uncapped year, that might not be too hard to do.

[Earl34]

It's not that simple. Let's say a FA and his agent have a target of $5M and the Raiders or the Browns are willing to pay 10% more, or $5.5M.

 

1. Nobody WANTS to play for a dysfunctional organization

2. The dysfunctional organization may mis-handle the player to the point that he loses opportunities to excel!

3. The dysfunctional organization may mis-handle the player to the point that he loses endorsements!

4. When all the negotiating and signing is done, and they step on the field on Sunday, these kids want to win!

 

No one can disagree with #1. Endorsements? What percentage of NFL players have endorsements and how many are in Cleveland? I would argue #3 and say that most "top" FAs figure they're going to make the team around them better (debatable). I would argue a bit with #4. These kids "want to win" but "wanting to win" and "doing what it takes to win" are two different things. Close to 100% want to win but a number far smaller than that will actually commit to doing what's needed to achieve it. On rare occasion, you have guys to whom winning is secondary. They want the money or the lifestyle above all else.

 

[peterbell]

Braylon is a heartbeat from Madison Ave..how many endorsements he tendering?.I'll answer that..NONE..He's is not a person who anyone wants endorsing their products..OL or DL , which is where you win and lose..those guys don't get endorsement bucks..It's about the guarenteed MONEY..thats all..NFL careers are short, all those guys are looking for the money and will go wherever it is..period.

 

Agents get a % of that contract..ITS ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY..ALWAYS

[bonedawg]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DON"T HAVE ENDORSEMENTS?